Verifying a rumor put out by BGR over a month ago, HTC has announced after a dismal end to 2011 (net profits fell 26% last quarter) that the company will be changing its handset strategy to focus on fewer, "hero" devices in the coming year. The problem of excessive handset iteration is one I've opined on before. It is a problem, and while it's unlikely that HTC's balance sheet woes were even in majority caused by the large number of handsets they released, making fewer models is certainly a way to cut costs and increase the amount of attention that goes into each product.

A software update for the HTC Rezound is coming soon, according to Verizon's support page for the device. Hoping it's the update Rezound owners have been waiting for - you know, the one to ICS? Sorry to burst your bubble, but there's nothing to it but minor bugfixes and changes. But hey, you can't complain about them fixing things in the interim, can you? The update bumps things up to version number 2.01.605.11 and baseband 0.95.00.1118r.

A recent Newsweek article has been making the rounds claiming, through an unnamed Apple "insider," that Apple has spent north of $100 million litigating its various grievances against HTC since late 2010. Verifying the accuracy of this number is pretty much impossible. But that doesn't really matter. It may just as well be $80 million, $150 million, or $300 million - the conclusion drawn would remain the same: Apple is spending quite a chunk of income on its growing lawsuit habit.

If you didn't know, HTC has promised to provide bootloader unlock support for all devices released after September of 2011 as well as many others released before, and they have been keeping good on that promise with added support for many devices over the last few months.

That's the phrase Larry Page used to describe Google's recent shut down of underperforming products. Stop flooding the market with crap, and focus on fewer, higher quality products. Now it seems Motorola has somehowgotten the exact same idea.

AllThingsD reports that Motorola "plans to release fewer new models this year, in an effort to concentrate its marketing dollars." I hope they are concentrating their design, polish, and update efforts too.

Those following HTC's efforts to liberate bootloaders everywhere have a bit more to talk about tonight, as the Taiwanese manufacturer added support for a handful of devices.

For those not in the loop, HTC pledged to enable unlocking the bootloaders of all devices released after September 2011, but is doing the community one better by extending support to older models as well. HTC allows users to unlock their bootloaders using a quick, (relatively) easy online tool.

The latest unaudited results from HTC for Q4 2011 indicate that total revenues reached NT$ 101 billion (US$ 3.34 billion), a 2.49% drop as compared to the same period in 2010. In stark contrast, Samsung just had a record breaking quarter with profits reaching 5.2 trillion won (US$4.5 billion), almost double the figures of Q4 2010. Samsung's results for Q4 2011 breaks its previous record profit period of 5.0 trillion won (US$ 4.3 billion) from Q2 2010 and is an increase of 22% from Q3 2011.

You made your nominations, and you voted. Now we have a winner. The Andy for Best Non-Nexus Android Phone of 2011 goes to...

Best Non-Nexus Android Phone Of 2011: Readers' Choice

The Samsung Galaxy S II.

This really comes as no surprise. The Samsung Galaxy S II is still one of the most powerful handsets on the market, and with an Ice Cream Sandwich update inbound sometime in the coming year, it's only going to get better.

Our own Justin Case has been collaborating with Reid Holland (erishasnobattery) on TacoRoot – a tool that should root just about any HTC smartphone – for some time now, and with the recent additions to HTC’s official unlocking tool, they’ve decided to release it.

At the moment, it’s quite gnarly – it’s only a temporary root for now, and there are various issues with it (see below). That said, it’s incredibly useful for downgrading phones like the myTouch 4G, which can’t be unlocked or rooted with the most recent version of their software.